It’s official — he caved. Excerpt:

President Trump on Friday announced a deal with congressional leaders to temporarily reopen the government while talks continue on his demand for border wall money, handing Democrats a major victory in the protracted standoff.

The pact, announced by Trump from the Rose Garden at the White House, would reopen shuttered government departments for three weeks while leaving the issue of $5.7 billion for a U.S.-Mexico border wall to further talks.

He’s saying he might shut the government down again in three weeks if he doesn’t get money for a wall. Don’t you believe it. Here’s why he caved today, and why he won’t do anything three weeks from now:

Public disapproval of President Trump has swelled five points to 58 percent over three months as a majority of Americans continue to hold him and congressional Republicans most responsible for the partial federal government shutdown that ended Friday, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

… And when asked who is most responsible, 53 percent blame Trump and congressional Republicans while 34 percent blame Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Democrats.

Yesterday’s Washington Post report from inside the private Senate GOP meeting telegraphed today’s surrender by Trump. Senators were fed up with him.

Not everybody is happy with today’s events:

Good news for George Herbert Walker Bush: As of today, he is no longer the biggest wimp ever to serve as President of the United States.

— Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) January 25, 2019

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Which is a repulsive thing to say, given that G.H.W. Bush was a decorated war hero. But that’s Ann Coulter for you. Unlike GOP members of Congress, she has never stood for election. I’m afraid Pete Wehner is right:

In the showdown with Nancy Pelosi, Trump’s been exposed as pitifully weak, all bluster, a pathetic negotiator. Pelosi rolled him in every way. Egged on by right wingers, the whole thing was buffoonish from start to finish. *This* is how Trump’s Art of the Deal works in real life.

— Peter Wehner (@Peter_Wehner) January 25, 2019

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The shutdown was stupid, especially after Trump, pre-shutdown, said in front of the cameras that he would take the blame for it. Watch this clip again, in light of today’s news, and understand why Sen. Schumer looks like the cat who ate the canary:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5n-Y4TIgktg]

If Trump had entered the shutdown with a strong hand, he might have won. But the border wall, whether or not it’s a good idea, was not popular then, and is not popular now. That’s just a fact. If Trump felt so strongly about it, he ought to have made it a priority in his first two years, when his party had control of Congress. He did not try to convince people of the need for it. It’s not surprising that he got blindsided early last December by Ann Coulter and a few other hardline pundits for not having done squat to advance the wall cause. They correctly judged that he didn’t really care about the wall.

Trump, afraid of them, led his party into a shutdown he couldn’t hope to win. Elections have consequences, and one of the consequences of last fall’s election is that the Democratic Party runs the House. You have to pick your battles wisely. As Trump, who just had his bloodied head handed to him by Nancy Pelosi, now knows.

To be clear: whether or not America needs a border wall — and I’m more inclined towards building one than against — is beside the point. Building a border wall is politically impossible right now. We knew that before Trump caused the shutdown. Which is why the shutdown was such folly.